Austin Apartments News

Smaller homes with smaller lots are becoming more and more common, even in the suburbs. This is hardly surprising considering how expensive real estate can be. Space is at a premium even more so in the city. Plenty of people work and live near or even alongside businesses in existing buildings. It’s best to make the most of a small space in these circumstances.

Murphy beds do just this. The Murphy bed was invented by William L. Murphy around 1900. Murphy was a single gentleman living in a one-room apartment in San Francisco.

He wanted to be able to have a girlfriend over to his room. At the same time, proper young women at the time would never enter a gentleman’s bedroom. Murphy, then, figured out how to hide the bed while entertaining.

This apartment posed a problem to Murphy’s social life. Murphy wanted to be able to entertain his girlfriend, yet no decent proper woman would go into a young man’s bedroom in those days. Therefore, Murphy got creative and figured out how to hide the bed so he could entertain.

In 1900 or so, Murphy patented his invention. He started making the beds, and the product became quite popular as people wanted to use them to help save space. In 1906, after the San Francisco earthquake, the popularity of Murphy beds became even more popular.

Because of the earthquake, many parts of the city had been severely damaged. Livable space in San Francisco was at a premium, and Murphy’s business prospered as people made the most of what little space there was.

Murphy moved this flourishing business to New York in the 1920s. It is still there, and still producing beds. More and more people living in cities and apartments means that Murphy beds are useful and popular. These are so well made that many of the original Murphy beds produced are still in use today.

Murphy beds can now be found all over the world. They are found in hotels, hospitals, fire stations, offices, just about anywhere that efficient use of space is a priority.

See more of this writer’s work about items such as flooring cushion and sofa beds.

categories: beds,furniture,shopping,home,home accessories,interior design,wood,apartments,real estate,advice,product reviews,history,home ideas,hospitals